Kaneki finally talks to Touka

Kaneki walked out the door of the library, weighed down by the books in his backpack. When Ryouko had first advised him to go pick up some books on how to perform fellatio, he had thought she was joking. Then when she assured him she wasn't, he'd been sure that the library wouldn't have any books on such a vulgar topic. He'd been wrong again, and ended up leaving with three different books teaching him how to suck cock. He was just glad that self checkout existed in the modern world.

After dropping the books off at his apartment, Kaneki changed in his work clothes and headed out to Anteiku. He wasn't originally scheduled to work today, but the manager had asked him to come in, saying they were overwhelmed by customers with just him and Touka there.

Touka . . . it would be the first time Kaneki would even see her since she'd had him blow her. They'd shared work shifts before, but every time they did, she asked to swap with someone else. Kaneki wasn't exactly sure why she was avoiding him, but he guessed he might not want to face someone after making them suck his dick.

Thoughts of how he could approach her today fluttered through his mind as he walked to work. As he approached the cafe, his heart started beating faster in his chest. Touka hadn't treated him the best since he started working at Anteiku, but he couldn't forget how she'd saved him during his fight with Nishio.

His heart was pounding as he walked up the steps to the back door of the cafe and opened the door. He stepped in and looked around, the back was empty, but Kaneki could hear the bustle of customers in the front. Yoshimura hadn't lied, it really was busy. He quickly hung his jacket up and walked to the front to help.

Kaneki emerged from the back and Yoshimura glanced at him, a smile forming on his face at the sight of him. "Ah, Kaneki. Thank you for coming in today. Me and Touka have been quite swamped by ourselves here," the manager said.

Kaneki smiled back. "It's my pleasure, Mr. Yoshimura."

Kaneki glanced around the cafe. Most tables were full with customers. He spotted her standing next to one, a notepad in hand as she took the customer's order. She glanced up and caught his eye for just a second before hers darted back to look at the customer. She hadn't seemed particularly angry at the sight of him. The glance didn't really seem to communicate anything at all, Kaneki thought.

He was soon pulled out of his thoughts as customers started to approach him and Kaneki was dragged back into work. For nearly an hour straight, Kaneki was kept busy working, brewing cup after cup of coffee. He had come to really love working at Anteiku. The process of making a cup was a relaxing, but still busying task for him, and Kaneki enjoyed talking fto the odd, yet always nice, customers the ghoul focused cafe attracted.

The only problem was, the constant flow of work meant he didn't even get a chance to greet Touka in the whole hour he'd been there. However, the flood of customers did eventually slow to a trickle as the afternoon wore on. It wasn't till nearly two hours after he first arrived at Anteiku that Kaneki saw his opportunity and took it.

Touka left for the back of Anteiku, and Kaneki followed her. She entered a storage room, and immediately turned around as Kaneki entered behind her.

"What do you want already?" She asked, her voice was filled with resignation.

Kaneki, who wasn't expecting her to be so direct with him, stumbled for a second before finding his words. "I-I just wanted to discuss what happened between us the other day, Touka." Kaneki blushed as the memory of that day entered his mind again.

"Discuss? There's nothing to discuss." Touka stated bluntly. "I made a silly mistake, and it won't happen again. It's best if we both just forget about it, Okay?"

Kaneki's eyes widened in surprise at her complete dismissal of the event. He had thought it meant something. He wasn't exactly sure what, but he'd convinced himself that it wasn't just a way for Touka to quickly get off. Maybe his discussions with Ryouko had clouded his mind about the reality of the situation, or maybe Kaneki was just a romantic at heart, but he wanted to believe there was something there.

But with Touka telling him so directly that it was nothing, that he shouldn't expect anything different from now on, Kaneki had trouble maintaining that belief. And so, Kaneki merely let out an "Okay," and watched as Touka pushed past him, and out of the storage room. He stared at her back as she left, trying to ignore the disappointment welling inside of him.

Work continued as normal after that. Touka continued to treat him disparagingly, as she had before their incident, and she gave no hint that anything had ever happened between them.

And so, when the manager asked her to take him further into Tokyo that weekend to get a mask, she let out an expected huff, complained for a bit about why she should have to go with an idiot like him, and then relented.

That Saturday, Kaneki stood outside the station they had agreed to meet at. It was an hour past their agreed meeting time and Touka hadn't arrived yet. He still didn't know where exactly they were going, or what the manager had meant when he said Kaneki needed a mask, but Touka had seemed to agree that it was important.

A light kick to his side brought Kaneki out of his thoughts. He turned to see Touka standing next to him, a frown on her face.

"Hello," Kaneki said. Touka didn't respond, turning around instead, and walking further into the city. Kaneki quickly followed behind her, not wanting to get lost. He stared at her as they walked. It was his first time not seeing her in her work clothes. If he didn't already know, he never would've guessed that she was a ghoul. She looked so . . . normal.

Touka glanced back at him. "What?" She barked out angrily.

Kaneki took a step back. "N-nothing."

"Then stop staring at me."

Touka continued walking, not saying another word to him.

They walked for a long time, down small side roads and through alleys. They were deep into the city at this point, far deeper than Kaneki had ever been before, at least, and it didn't exactly seem like the nicest area.

Touka eventually came to stop in front of a small shop. HySy ArtMask Studio, was the name, if the large painted on logo was anything to go by. Kaneki thought the building looked rather ominous, but Touka walked up and knocked on the door no problem. She then swung it open, and stepped inside

Kaneki sat in a chair as Uta, the shop owner circled around him. Uta had seemed like a scary guy when Kaneki first entered the shop, but Kaneki had quickly realized that he was **** than he appeared. Uta had been asking him loads of weird questions, saying that the more he knew about Kaneki the more motivated he'd be to make a mask.

"What do you think about Touka? Think she's cute?" Uta asked him as he held a measuring tape close to Kaneki's face.

"No . . . I think she's a little scary," Kaneki said. He was glad she was far away enough not to hear their discussion.

"I wonder if she's really scary?" Uta questioned him. "I was thinking more that she's a hard worker."

Kaneki glanced up at him in surprise. "A hard worker?"

"It's difficult for ghouls to blend into human society," Uta said. "It's like walking a tightrope, and never knowing when you might fall. But the condition of the rope we walk changes with our own choices. The more involved we are with humans, the thinner the rope becomes." He paused and glanced at Touka, who was examining masks across the shop.

"Touka is crossing an incredibly thin tight rope," Uta continued. "Not only with her job at Anteiku, but she goes to school, and has human friends."

Kaneki hadn't ever thought of those things. He'd known Touka went to school, but he never thought it would put her in danger. He could see how interacting with humans at all was risky though. "I wonder why she chooses to associate with humans, even though it exposes her to danger?" Kaneki wondered aloud.

"It's true you can segregate yourself and live safely," Uta said. "But, whenever I get a human customer here, I'm always so excited to have them. I can't explain exactly why very well, but I'm happy to have them." Uta paused for a second before he resumed measuring Kaneki's head.

"Alright I'm finished with your measurements. I'll send your mask to Anteiku once I'm done."

It was dark out as Touka and Kaneki left the shop. "Hey, you were afraid of Uta's appearance, weren't you?" Touka teased him as they walked. She seemed to be in a slightly lighter mood than she had been earlier.

"Yeah I was," Kaneki admitted. "But he was actually very kind." They walked in silence for a bit, before Kaneki asked, "by the way, what's the use of the masks anyways?"

Touka looked at him in shock. "You came all the way out here and did all that without even knowing why?" She berated him. "Of course we need masks. If we ever want to go out and eat, we need to cover our faces. If the ghoul investigators know your face, it doesn't matter where you are, they'll find you and kill you." She explained. "Use your head a little."

That made sense, Kaneki supposed. He was still thinking like a human, because he still struggled to accept that he was a ghoul in the first place. He was relying on the manager's special sugar cubes for food, and he always seemed so unaware of what was really happening in the 20th ward.

As these thoughts ran through his head, he glanced at Touka, and thought about what Uta had said in the shop. He was having trouble just managing existence as a ghoul. She had to juggle that along with her human life. He couldn't imagine how tough it would be for him if he was continuing to attend university.

Maybe he didn't give her enough credit, Kaneki thought, as he and Touka walked back to Anteiku in silence.